A newborn was surrendered to a Safe Haven Baby Box at a fire station in The Woodlands, Texas, on Monday, authorities said.
The Woodlands Fire Department announced that the child was safely transported to a local hospital for medical evaluation after being safely surrendered to the device at Station 6 at 1100 Windsor Lakes Blvd.
“This Safe Haven Baby Box exists for moments exactly like this,” Fire Chief Palmer Buck said in a statement. “Today, a baby is safe because someone chose a secure and legal option during what was undoubtedly a difficult situation. We are grateful the system worked as intended and that the baby is now receiving the care they need.”
Safe Haven Baby Boxes were created to deter parents from abandoning their newborns in unsafe places, potentially leaving them to die. Baby boxes are temperature-controlled incubators, often built into exterior walls of fire stations, police stations, and hospitals, and can be accessed from inside. At-risk mothers can safely and legally place their newborns inside the baby box. Then the outside door locks, and mothers have time to leave before an alarm goes off, alerting first responders or hospital staff inside.
The baby is then quickly removed and sent to a hospital for a wellness check. From there, the baby is usually placed into state custody and often quickly adopted.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes launched nine years ago in Indiana and has expanded nationwide with at least 455 locations. More than 80 newborns have been surrendered to baby boxes across the United States, according to the organization. Safe Haven Baby Boxes also says it has assisted with at least 200 additional infant surrenders to other safe haven locations.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes has a confidential National Safe Haven Hotline, 1-866-99BABY1, that provides free counseling and information about safe surrenders, including face-to-face surrenders.
“In the last 23 days, 24 days now, we’ve had nine surrenders, and that’s not common for us. We average 20 to 25 per year normally,” the Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization founder, Monica Kelsey, told local news outlet Click2Houston.
The Woodlands Township baby box location opened in April 2025. The Woodlands Township Chairman Brad Bailey said in a statement that the decision “provides a compassionate option that protects the health and safety of babies while offering hope
“We are thankful this baby is safe and commend the Fire Department for its commitment to providing this lifesaving resource to our community,” Bailey said.
Texas has a Safe Haven law that allows the legal surrender of newborns up to 60 days after birth to hospitals, fire stations, EMS providers, and baby boxes.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
